We’ve had a record amount of tours this June with 25 walks all together. Thanks to a number of organizations like Welcoming Week Ottawa and partnerships with the City of Ottawa, we were able to provide free walks to the public. This year we welcomed a new guide whose name is Summer Twenish. She a young ambitious Anishnabe woman from Kitigan Zibi and has a very unique perspective in her Indigenous Walks perspective. Read more about her in our “Guides” section of Indigenous Walks website!

NEW GUIDE! SUMMER TWENISH, Anishnabe from Kitigan Zibi

Around Ottawa there are an amazing number of things that we just can’t keep up with! Right now at the Karsh-Masson Gallery, the flower exhibition called, Wapikwanew: Blossom features 8 artists whose relationship with flowers is a source of inspiration. Some are connected through flowers because of their relationship to the land, and others because of their sheer beauty and elegance. Artist include Christi Belcourt, Barry Ace, David White Deer Charette, Kelly Duquette, Florence Yee, Nathalie Mantha and Myrosia Humeniuk. There are several activities including a joint Indigenous Walks tour.

Family, 2011 by Christi Belcourt on loan from the collection of Jaime Koebel

At the City Hall right now, there are also beautiful squares up that make the Quilt of Belonging. The amount of work that they’ve put in to the Indigenous squares is phenomenal. The exhibition is up until 5 July 2017

If there is anyone interested in taking a FREE online Indigenous studies course with Tracy Bear and Paul Gareau sign up here (you can also get credit but that costs $oniyaw:

Tâns’i n’totemtik (Hello friends!) I’m really making up for a lack of summer content here! I decided to jump right in to the events for October because…well, there is JUST SO MUCH HAPPENING! We are really very lucky to live in a place like Ottawa where Indigenous arts and culture thrives and jives its way right across the city. First up, there are some seriously deadly new walks coming up and I hope you can make it out for one. I might be biased but I think you’d be missing out if you didn’t get to catch at least one of these walks.

NEW WALKS

Parliament Hill Tour

I’m pretty excited about this tour because it’s a walk that starts at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill and examines architecture, monuments and landscape through an Indigenous lens. For instance, we’ll stop at the Persons Monument and focus on Indigenous people and voting in Canada. I’ll explore the relationship that our past Prime Ministers had with Indigenous people in Canada and together we can search for hidden architecture of Indigenous imagery built right in to the Parliament buildings. Make sure to check the schedule regularily for updates. To register email jaime@indigenouswalks.com. We meet at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill.

September 28 @ 5pm-7pm

October 12 @ 2pm-4pm

October 28 @ 5:30pm-7:30pm

Kostâciwin: A Scary Special

Join me for a unique tour filled with tales of life, death and just plain creepy stories that come from Indigenous peoples! It’ll be sure to leave your hair raised by the end of the tour! We will meet in the middle of Confederation Park at the Water Fountain. To register, email jaime@indigenouswalks.com. You can check the schedule for dates and times. We meet at the fountain in Confederation Park:

October 22 @ 7pm-9pm

October 25 @ 7pm-9pm

October 30 @ 7pm-9pm

Of course, there are also the walks for beginners that are always going to be available:

Beginner’s Tour

This tour is for individuals who are new learners of Indigenous social, political and culture issues. It is also for individuals who have not seen the Ottawa landscape from an Indigenous artistic perspective through monuments and environmental landscape. We meet at the Human Rights Monument.

October 7 @ 1pm-2pm FREE tour with the City of Ottawa

October 7 @ 5:30pm-7:30pm

October 10 @ 6pm-8pm

EVENTS

October 2 – Exhibition opening: Storytelling opens at the Ottawa School of Art Gallery Downtown Campus. The Ottawa School of Art Byward Market Campus is proud to present the group exhibition Storytelling, a selection of pieces featured in the 2nd edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial. The exhibition takes place from September 25 to November 16 at the Ottawa School of Art’s Byward Market Gallery at 35 George Street, Ottawa. Reception: meet the artist takes place on Thursday, October 2 from 5pm to 8pm. All welcome! This group exhibition showcases the art works of Luke Parnell, Merritt Johnson, Tanis Maria S’eiltin, Nadia Myre, and Sonny Assu.

Merritt Johnson, Coyote boy, 2011

October 3 – If you’re interested in a bit of travel, there’s a powerful dance being showcased in Montreal called “Unrelated” by Daina Ashbee. IF you can’t go, you should at least check out the provocative trailers.

October 16 – A talk presented by the Ottawa Chapter of the Ontario Archeological Society called “Inuit Communities and the Reclaiming of Archival Photographs”, by Carol Payne, Associate Professor of Art History, School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University Routhier Community Centre. 7:30 p.m. Free admission.

October 31 – First Nations Hallowe’en Ball at the Glue Pot Pub opens at 9:30pm As more community events come up, I’ll be sure to post them so keep checking back! The Month of the Freezing Moon is always full of surprises!

It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to catch my breath to write up another blog! There’s been so much happening and so much coming up, that I can’t NOT write a blog!

At any time, to learn more information about the blog content, click on the highlighted coloured words.

First of all, thank you to all of the people who have come on walks over the summer!

I’d also like to introduce one of our part-time tour guides Shady Hafez to Indigenous Walks. Shady is a member of the Indigenous community here in Ottawa with both Algonquin and Syrian decent. He is currently a hard-working student at Carleton University and is working on a special tour for November on war and Indigenous people. Stay tuned!

As well, a huge thanks to the Asinabka Festival and the Indigenous Peoples’ Solidarity Movement for partnering with Indigenous Walks to host a special tour that finished with “Rhymes for Young Gouls” at Victorial Island during the Festival on July 23rd. There was a whopping 101 people and APTN was there to record the whole event. There have been several public tours under the summer night sky too and I was really lucky to have met some amazing quality people! Thank-you everyone for coming on the walk!!

There are new walking tours to check out too! The best place for up to date information is on the schedule page but here’s a brief synopsis:

Beginner’s Tour

This tour is for individuals who are new learners of Indigenous social, political and culture issues. It is also for individuals who have not seen the Ottawa landscape from an Indigenous artistic perspective through monuments and environmental landscape.

September 23 @ 5pm-7pm

October 1 @ 5:30pm-7:30pm

October 7 @ 1pm-2pm FREE tour with the City of Ottawa

Parliament Hill Tour

I’m pretty excited about this tour because it’s a walk that starts at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill and examines architecture, monuments and landscape through an Indigenous lens. For instance, we’ll stop at the Persons Monument and focus on Indigenous people and voting in Canada. I’ll explore the relationship that our past Prime Minister’s had with Indigenous people in Canada and together we can search for hidden architecture of Indigenous imagery built right in to the Parliament buildings.

September 28 @ 5pm-7pm

October 3 @ 5:30pm-7:30pm

October 6 @ 5:30pm-7:30pm

To view more details on any of the following events, just click on the coloured words. Easy peasy.

September 20 – “Breaking Barriers” is an exhibition that features five Indigenous artist (among others) at the Diefenbunker Museum in Carp, ON just 20 minutes from Ottawa. The five artists are Heather Campbell, Rebekah Elkerton, Peter Purdy, Tim Yearington and Howard Adler curated by Jaime Koebel. This exhibition will be up until January 2015 and will even be visisted by Amazing Race Canada during the week of September 22-26, 2014.

September 20 – If you happen to be around the Oshawa area, I would also highly recommend that you see “Reading the Talk” which is an exhibition at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery until January 2015. It is a conversation about the Dish with One Spoon Treaty. Indigenous Artists: Michael Belmore, Hannah Claus, Patricia Deadman, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Keesic Douglas and Melissa General.

Belmore “Bridge” 2014 from RMG website

September 23 – Anyone wanting to invest in Aboriginal children in Ottawa should attend the Makonsag Aboriginal Headstart AGM. It begins at 5pm and they always have a great meal! If I didn’t have a tour that night, I’d be there in a flash.

September 29 – Opening of autumn exhibitions at Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) from 5pm-7:30pm includes Indigenous artists such as Raymond Boisjoly (Haida/Quebecois), Robert Davidson (Haida), Freda Diesing (Haida) and Beau Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw). There is also, Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration exhibition as a part of the opening.

Please remember that you are all welcome to any of these events! I sure hope to see you there!

Questions

There were a few questions on my walks that people had or comments that I made that I said I would follow up with. Here they are!

For more information on the Aboriginal War Veteran’s Monument, you can check this link out. I do believe they made a mistake in the video and indicated that there are two women and two men however, to me, there are clearly three men and one woman. I’ll follow up with the people who made the video.

For the NFB film that I talked about with reference to the Métis war veteran who lost his home to a Settler Soldier upon returning from his time in the war, you can see more information here: Forgotten Warriors by Loretta Todd, 1997.

Also really cool are two local Indigenous radio programs that air right out of Ottawa. The first is Aboriginal CKCU from Carleton University that airs on Sunday mornings at 9am. My favourite program is The Michif Hour with Governor General Award winning host, Tony Belcourt. The other one is The Circle through the University of Ottawa’s CHUO with Darren Sutherland. Check him on out Tuesday from 9pm-10pm. Also click the links to hear podcasts for past shows.

There was a person on the walk who asked me about the original names of Chaudiere Falls. Through my friend and soon to be tour guide J-l Fournier, he shared this information with me (Thanks J-l!):

Akikpauktik from mishomis Commanda,

Akikodjiwan from James morrison (historian)

Pesabkedjowin from Joe Wagoos

It’s kind of time to start thinking about Christmas so I thought I’d leave with you a few shopping ideas:

Sequoia is an Indigenous owned and operated Native inspired beauty and bath company called Sequoia. I have always always been a fan of the Red Clover line!

The BearPawPawn makes me go a little shopping cart crazy. Be forewarned! It has everything.

NativeThreads is worth checking out for the male species in your life.

And of course, there are always gift certificates for spring walks with Indigenous Walks! To inquire, email jaime@indigenouswalks.scom

AWARDS/RECOGNITION

They say if you want to be great, you should surround yourself with greatness. It looks like I’m in good company with friends who are winning awards all over the place. Make sure to congratulate them when you see them!

Also….
Congratulations to Norm Odjick from Kitigan Zibi Reserve for getting a spot on CBC’s Canada’s Smartest Person that airs Sunday, September 28th at 8pm. Can’t wait to make this a part of my nightly Sunday evening routine for the next few weeks!

Lee Maracle for winning the Premier’s Award for Art in Ontario

Lee Maracle Photo from Casey the Canadian Librarian

Big applause also to Cheri Deimaline who won the Emerging Artist Award for Premier’s Award for Art in Ontario

Cherie Deimaline Photo from Theytus Books website

Tanya Tagaq recently won the Polaris Award! Amazing!

Tanya Tagaq Photo from Canadian Press

So all that! It’s been a great summer and so far, the fall is pretty awesome too. The October dates will be posted soon! Stay tuned.

This is a simple but beautiful little Neyihaw (Cree) greeting that I learned from my community in Lac La Biche located in Northern Alberta. It’s a pleasant way to ask someone how they’re doing without regard for your own feelings in the moment. It’s a genuine “Hello, how are you my friend?” If you end up on one of my tours, you’ll be sure to be greeted this way.

THE NEXT INDIGENOUS WALKING TOUR IS SET FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 12 at 5:30pm. We meet in front of the Human Rights Monument near City Hall at Elgin/Lisgar. If you haven’t gone on a walk yet – you really should! Send an email to register to: jaime@indigenouswalks.com – Book a tour for June 12th for a chance to win tickets to see Lara Kramer’s, “Native Girls Syndrome.” on Friday, June 13th as part of the Canada Dance Festival’s shows in Ottawa.

In this week’s blog, a big shout out goes to two groups who came on walks. One group was the Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario, Centre for Addictions and Mental Health who were in town for a meeting but managed to gather about 15 participants together this past Monday evening to take a tour of downtown Ottawa. Janine and Ted, thanks so much for your help in creating awareness of Indigenous Walks to conference guests. Secondly, a big thank-you to a Martina for organizing the second walk which included inquisitive guests from Italy, China, Germany and of course, various parts of Canada. I’ve included some information on this blog about things we talked about along the walk. If I’m missing anything, give me a shout jaime@indigenouswalks.com and I’ll add it to the next blog.

When we stopped in front of the justice building we talked a bit about a book that I thought was really helpful in understanding Indigenous Justice. the name of the book is called, “Dancing with a Ghost” and it’s by Rupert Ross. He also has another interesting book called, “Return to the Teachings.” I highly recommend both.

Also, for those walkers that didn’t get to see the Human Rights Monument this week, here’s a pretty thorough description of the monument. Click here.

Now, here’s a quick list of Indigenous events coming up in Ottawa:

June 11 – Aboriginal Professional’s Network BBQ. It’s happening at 5:30pm at the Heart & Crown in the market. If you’re looking at meeting Aboriginal people in business whether you are Aboriginal or not, this is a good place to be. This week, Gina Wilson is the main speaker.

June 13 – “Native Girl Syndrome” by Cree/Ojibway Choreographer Lara Kramer brought to you by the Canada Dance Festival. Tickets are limited so get them fast. Another way to get tickets for this event is to book a tour for June 12 for chances to win them free

June 20 – “L.nuwelti’k (We Are Indian)“, an interactive performance by MiKMaq artist Ursula Johnson at the Carleton University Art Gallery. All are invited.

June 20 – 22 – Aboriginal Summer Solstice Events at Vincent Massey Park. The blog previous to this one has a more detailed outline of exactly what events are happening and what time they’re happening at Vincent Massey Park.

June 24 & 25 - Drum Social Celebrating Culture: Drum Social hosted by the National Native Addictions Partnership Program. Host Drum – WhiteTail Cree Singers, Featuring Haudenosaunee Social Singers Rhonda Doxtator and Aisha Printup. Come sing and sway the night away the old fashioned Native Way! All invited! Open to the Public!

OKAY! See, I told you there was so much to do in Ottawa! Now don’t forget, Indigenous Walks is a great way to learn about the Nation’s Capital. Whether you’re new to the city of you have lived here for awhile but think you don’t now enough about the Indigenous stories in the area – this is seriously the walk for you. It’s fun, educational and active – a good combination. Book a staff retreat, get together with friends or use this as a summer camp idea by emailing jaime@indigenouswalks.com

Wow! With such a great start to Indigenous Walks it was really hard to find the time to do another blog post but there’s so much coming up that I thought you should know about so, welcome to Blog #3.

First of all, I had a few great tours this time around. Thank-you to teacher Michael Bernards from Lester B. Pearson for bringing your students on an Indigenous Walk! I met Mr. Bernards during my time at the National Gallery of Canada during the amazing “Sakahàn – International Indigenous Art” exhibition. At that time, I told him about my dream to launch Indigenous Walks and voila! He became my first of paying customer! Thank-you so much for your support.

The next tour was with the National Arts Centre’s Theatre Section. A big thank you to Sara Stanley for bringing the Board of Directors on a SURPRISE board development activity! I’m really looking forward to seeing the upcoming shows by Indigenous People that the NAC is hosting.

Thanks for the photo Sara!

National Arts Centre Board members on an Indigenous Walks tour. Photo by Sara Stanley

Before I get into this amazing list of things to do in Ottawa, I want you to remember Indigenous Walks when booking your meetings, planning a group activity or a staff retreat. If there’s a group of 10 or more, I give better rates. Teachers might also want to start considering booking for the fall too.

If you’re visiting Ottawa and you’d like to participate in a public tour, be sure to check the schedule and send an email to sign up for a walk to: jaime@indigenouswalks.com

June 20 @ 11:30am-1:30pm: TD Bank Celebrates National Aboriginal Day with First Nations, Inuit and Métis performers including Jaime and the Jiglets at 1595 Telesat Ct. (James Naismith Dr.) Just so you know, last year, they had the best food there!

So that’s a list and a half for you! For those of you who didn’t get to make it to the Odawa Native Friendship Centre’s 38th Annual Pow Wow, I’ve posted a few photos that I took of the fabulous dancers over the weekend of May 23-25.

Men’s Traditional Dancer Gabriel Whiteduck

Men’s Traditional Dancer, Ian Akiwenzie

Men’s Traditional Dancers: (Charles Belisle & Gabriel Whiteduck)

Men’s Traditional Dancer, Craig Marvin

Men’s Traditional Dancer. Please send me the name of this dancer if you know to: jaime@indigenouswalks.com

Men’s Traditional Dancer Jason Whitebear

Jingle Dress Dancers Line Up for competition announcement Photo by Jaime Koebel